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Cartographic Violence: The Berlin Conference, Arbitrary Map- Making, The Structural Roots of Conflict and Political Discrimination in Africa

Justice Chibuzor Okeleke.

Abstract

This paper examines how arbitrary cartography during the Scramble for Africa (1880-1914), institutionalized by the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, created enduring structural vulnerabilities that fuel contemporary civil conflict and political discrimination. Historical methods of description and analysis are deployed for this study. Drawing on historical and secondary sources, it argues that borders drawn for European strategic convenience, with no African representation, were guided by geometric logic, misapplied natural features, and sphere-of-influence bargaining rather than indigenous political, economic, or ethnic realities. The study identifies two core structural outcomes. First, the creation of 16 landlocked states, the highest concentration globally, severed pre-colonial trade routes, imposed excessive transit costs, fostered dependency on coastal neighbours, and weakened fiscal capacity and state institutions. Second, the partitioning of over 230 ethnic groups, including Somali, Ewe, Bakongo, Hausa-Fulani and Tuareg, across 2-3 states, as documented by Michalopoulos and Papaioannou (2016). The paper demonstrates how these cartographic acts generate a minority trap, contested state legitimacy, institutionalized discriminatory citizenship regimes such as Ivoirité in Côte d'Ivoire, and resource-driven secessionism. It concludes within Walter Rodney's dependency framework that Africa's insecurity is not a product of primordial ethnic hatred but of deliberate underdevelopment through territorial engineering, requiring security sector reforms beyond policing to include regional integration and inclusive citizenship.

References

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